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I remember how, as teenagers, we used to laugh at our elders' frequent admonitions to sit up straight. That was too oldfangled for us cool kids, like telling us to eat our peas and floss our teeth.
年轻时，老人总是告诫我们要挺身端坐，我依旧记得当初是如何不屑其劝告。对我们这群酷酷的孩子来说，这就像告诉我们吃豌豆和用牙线一样过时。
admonition n. 警告
Well, I'm here to say that the old folks were right.
然而，在此我想说老人们是对的。
My body recently set me straight when it rebelled against my bad habit of slumping over to look at my phone, read the newspaper or pet the cat. A disc began pinching a nerve, sending knifelike pain through my back, shoulder and down my arm.
我的身体跟我抗议了。因为我有低头看手机，读报纸，撸猫的坏习惯。椎间盘开始刺激神经，在背部，肩膀和手臂之间传递着刀割般的疼痛。
It turns out that bad posture can contribute to this problem.
事实证明，不良姿势会导致这样的问题。
It could be worse: Doctors think physical therapy, doing specific exercises, working on my posture and medication may tackle my pain. In fact, it does seem to be working.
But this incident has made me reflect on how many people nowadays spend countless hours with their necks craned over the glowing smartphone genie. The website of the respected Cleveland Clinic said three years ago that this habit is causing a malady known as "text neck".
这件事不禁让我反思，如今有多少人耗费大量时间，低头盯着发光的智能手机。著名的克利夫兰诊所三年前便在网站上表明，这种习惯正在导致一种名为 “短信脖”的疾病。
malady n. 弊病；疾病；腐败
"Typically, incidence of neck pain increases with age," pain specialist Dr. Robert Bolash said, according to the website. "But today we're seeing and treating more patients -- younger patients -- who never reported neck pain before."
疼痛病专家罗伯特·博拉什博士表示：“网站数据表明，通常颈部疼痛的发病率随着年龄增长而增加。但今天我们看到并医治了更多的年轻患者，他们之前从未有过颈部疼痛史。”
With the head weighing around 5 kilograms, looking down constantly can change the curvature of the neck and put a huge amount of stress on neck muscles. Bolash said the pressure can be the equivalent of as much as six times the normal weight of the head.
人的头重约5千克，持续低头会改变脖子的曲率，给颈部肌肉带来巨大压力。博拉什表示，这种压力可能相当于正常头重的六倍。
Dr. Rene Cailliet, professor emeritus at the University of Southern California School of Medicine and a musculoskeletal expert, has written about how forward head posture -- craning the neck -- can pull the entire spine out of alignment.
雷内·凯利埃博士退休于南加州大学医学院，是肌肉骨骼专家。他曾写了一篇文章，讲述头部前倾姿势，即拉动颈部会拉动整个脊柱，使其不能形成一条直线。
emeritus adj. 退休的；名誉退休的
It also can reduce lung capacity by as much as 30 percent, which can even contribute to heart and blood vascular disease and affect the gastrointestinal system, Cailliet has written.
凯利埃写道，这种行为还会减少多达30%的肺活量，甚至可能导致心血管疾病，影响胃肠系统。
While "text neck" is a worldwide phenomenon, it seems especially prevalent among hyperwired youth in China, home of the affordable smartphone. Just watch people, especially young people, on any subway or train car. I'd bet on an increasing demand for physical therapists and orthopedic surgeons.
I am also trying to take some practical steps to ward off neck pain and hopefully keep it from coming back or getting worse.
我也试图采取一些实际措施防止脖子疼痛，希望避免再次疼痛或变得更痛。
ward off 避开；挡住
Since I work in front of a computer, getting a more adjustable, supportive chair has helped. I also have elevated my screen to eye-level height to avoid looking down for hours at a time.
我工作需要常用电脑，因此一把可调节的椅子会有所帮助。我也将屏幕抬高到了眼睛的高度，避免连续低头看几个小时的情况。
I've told my colleagues that if it looks like I'm flapping my arms as if trying to fly, I'm actually just exercising my shoulder and back muscles.
我告诉同事们，如果我像要起飞似地挥舞手臂，实际上只是在锻炼肩膀和背部肌肉。
I've reduced my smartphone time, but if I do take a look, I elevate the phone with my arms tucked against my abdomen like supports to avoid craning my neck. It may look weird, but it works. The alternative is a pain in the neck.
我已经减少了看智能手机的时间，但如果确实要看一下，我便会举起手机，并用手臂顶住腹部，像支撑物一样，这样可以避免伸长脖子。这种行为可能看起来很奇怪，但确实有效。不然就更有我受得了。
About the author & broadcaster
Matt Prichard is a copy editor and writer who works on the front page team of China Daily. He has lived in China for more than five years, in Shanghai and Beijing. Before that, he had a 30-year career as a reporter and editor in the United States and Latin America. He has an ABJ from the University of Georgia and did postgraduate work at the Universidad Nacional del Sur in Argentina. He speaks Spanish fluently and is still learning Mandarin.
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